Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Does your child llike teacher-directed learning?

It sounds like you have some good options. Now you'll just have to wait and see which one(s) will work, and for how long. We do have some good schools here, and many of the best ones for HG+ kids are public (and we have open enrollment here, so you can go wherever there is space even if out of district). Although there are some great private schools here too, they do not tend to be as successful for the really asynchronous kids, and since private, they don't have to do anything special really. (You hear a lot of "Our curriculum is already at the highest levels", or "All our kids are smart.") So we are lucky there are great public options.

Yes, I can understand about not wanting to drive for preschool. And not wanting to pay more than some colleges for preschool or elementary. I wouldn't have either (and I didn't). We waited until our DS was 7 and bit the bullet on the drive, but it's a public school.

I would recommend trying to find some other families with similar kids in the area who have had success at any of the schools you are looking into. Usually when you call a school, there is a parent or two they can refer you to. Maybe you can get some names from the state DOE gifted and talented coordinator or similar person. Usually people with such unusual kids have contaced such state GT rep and asked for help, and he/she may be able to give great advice about which schools have worked best with HG+ kids like yours. You might even get a few names. If there's a state GT group, you might get some help there too.

For the most part, my DD5 doesn't like anyone-directed learning. She resists and even resents being shown or directed in any way. It can be very frustrating as a parent. She was labeled "contrary" with her pre-k teacher at 3, but at 4 and 5 learned to just go with the flow a little more and at least appear to go along with the group. She has been home schooled for the awhile now so I don't know how she will do in groups as a kindergartener. She does like group singing and dancing and stoytimes and will sit and participate for those sorts of things. She has never been in a situation that a teacher taught her something she didn't already know so I don't know how she would do with that. We have gone to a few science centers with nature talks and she listened well and asked questions appropriately so I suppose you could say she liked that sort of teacher-directed learning.

In general, she prefers to direct. She used to try to direct classes, play teacher at play time, etc. In the longrun, it may be a good trait.

The word Montessori can be used by any school that chooses to, every one is slightly different and even in ones that have an identical philosophy the individual teachers may be quite different in how they implement the philosophy. Even if one has had a school tour and heard all about the particular school's philosophy, that is no substitute for sitting in on the actual class one's child would be in (and perhaps visiting both in morning and afternoon as the two parts to the day can be really different).

Our local montessori looked like a poor fit for DS4. Too strict, too serious, too dull, too teacher led. I do hear glowing reports about some - this one did not glow.

To answer the original question, DS very much prefers child led and preferably pretend. Virtually any mundane activity (eating, getting in the car) is some imaginary scenario just to enhance the interest level enough to get through it.

We chose a preschool for this year that valued child led pretend play, but also had shorter periods of time each day that emphasized following directions (a meal time and a group time). It was a good choice for this year for DS, I think were we to stay here he would likely be bored with it as he'd now be the oldest. We are moving though so no option to return anyways.

Polly